نشریه جغرافیا و توسعه ناحیه ای
سال بیستم شماره 1 (پیاپی 38، بهار 1401)

This study aimed to investigate the reasons for the failure of institutionalizing tourism programs in rural areas. So, the program of tourism target villages on the change of villages’ economic structure from the production-oriented function to post-production and response to consumer demands in the tourism target destinations of North Khorasan was evaluated. The villages were Darkesh, Rooein, Ostad, Khosraviyeh, Zavarem, Gelian and Esfidan. The results showed that governments support the onset of projects but they not help to complete the tourism cycle, i.e. physical development, counseling, training, advertising, and marketing. It is so clear that tourism in the destination villages of North Khorasan faces a gap of cooperation and local participation that should happen between entrepreneurs in villages and at the regional level. The cooperation is a prerequisite for developing new businesses and meeting financial, information and marketing needs like all other parts of Iran. Moreover, constructive interaction between governmental organizations and local communities is another determining factors for the development and institutionalization of tourism in tourism destinations. Qualitative method was used to carry out the study. Content analysis and MaxQuda software were used for data analysis. The results showed that, despite the cooperations, the Iran Housing Organization has other priorities for the development of ecotourism settlements and had focused on issues like paving the streets of villages.

Coopetition in tourism is a positive strategy that can create opportunities for large and small destinations, which ultimately leads to the development of tourism destinations. The main reason for cooperation with competitors among tourism organizations is to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage by integrating resources or the ability to share tourism knowledge in common places. This research was carried out with the aim of evaluating the drivers of the coopetition strategy in the formation of the Golden Triangle Consortium of Tourism in Iran.The statistical sample of this research is consisted of 20 experts who are members of the Golden Triangle Consortium of Tourism in Iran. To achieve the purposes of the research, fuzzy DEMATEL technique was used. The results showed that based on D+R values, the stimulus “expected goals” and “resources and capabilities” with values of 4.19 and 4.08 are known as the most important stimuli in the formation of coopetition strategy. “Expected goals” is the most important driver of coopetition in the formation of the Golden Triangle Consortium of Tourism in Iran, because the members of this consortium seek to take a larger share of the global market in order to maintain their position in international tourism. According to the D-R values, the most effective stimulus can be “technological demand” with a value of -1.13. What has caused the competition between the three provinces in this consortium is trying to get more tourists than each other. According to the results obtained from the DEMATEL technique, it can be claimed that the cooperation and competition among these three cities have made them tend to take this strategy.

Political organizing of the space of every country is done through national divisions with the main goal of decentralizing. Decentralizing is done for easier managing of the country and providing better services. This study was done to investigate and analyze the effects of political divisions on the economic and social stability of rural settlements in Firouzeh. The survey used a descriptive method and quasi-panel design. Using Likert scale, the stability of rural settlements regarding economic dimensions (having 11 variables and 45 indicators) and social dimension (having 13 variables and 30 indicators) before and after the country divisions were compared. The sample consisted of 249 rural households of the city. The validity of the questionnaire was determined by confirmatory factor analysis (Kaiser-Meyer ≥ 0.87, Sig ≤ 0.05) and its reliability by Cronbach's alpha was 0.87, meaning suitable. The results of the paired samples test showed that the average social stability had increased significantly as it was 2.42 before the divisions and 2.94 after the divisions. Though the average economic stability increased from 1.98 to 2.34, it is not significant. The reason is the impact of larger variables like economic sanctions imposed on the country. Generally the decentralization policies at the local level, however, have influenced significantly and positive the stability of the rural settlements of the city.

Urban management in Tehran metropolis as the largest metropolis of Iran and one of the most populated cities in the world, faces many challenges. The lack of integrated management causes many problems and costs for the citizens every year. Therefore, urban planners and policy makers have to adopt an integrated planning procedure to create coordination between different priorities and needs. Considering this issue, this research identified and analyzed the strengths and weaknesses of the urban management system of Tehran metropolis and provided solutions to achieve integrated management. The statistical population of the descriptive-analytical study includes experts and specialists and trustees of urban management. SWOT technique was used for data analysis. In total, 19 strengths and opportunities were identified as positive factors and 21 weaknesses and threats were identified as limitations facing the integrated management of the metropolis of Tehran. This shows a partial and separate management in the city. Solutions were proposed for reducing the obstacles and finally realize the "Integrated Management of Tehran Metropolis", which requires the serious attention of managers and urban planners. The results of previous studies and researches show that urban management system in Iran has not been successful in implementing programs and plans, and Tehran metropolis, since the capital of the country, has become a platform for the concentration of facilities in economic, political, and social dimensions. Considering this issue, the use of integrated urban management can create coordination and balance between executive organizations.

Mashhad as one of the most important pilgrimage and tourism destinations of Iran has been declared as a global city of gemstones due to its suitable geographical and mineral status and other related capacities. Apart from the tremendous income generation and job creation that they bring, gemstones have many benefits in the fields of religion, beauty, medicine, architecture, etc., which multiplies the potential of using them in the tourism industry. Creative tourism is a new generation of tourism that has been considered from both supply and demand sides. One of the advantages of this type of tourism is creating trust among tourists to buy authentic handicrafts, which is especially necessary in handicrafts with gemstones industry in Mashhad. The main purpose of this study is identifying the components of creative tourism in gemstones in Mashhad, focusing on the supply sector. For this purpose, after reviewing the literature, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 experts of tourism and gems. Thematic analysis was then performed using MAXQDA20 software. Four dimensions (infrastructure, management, marketing and creative tourism’s products and services), 13 main themes, and 57 sub-themes were extracted. The main themes obtained from the qualitative part were provided to the same experts for prioritization. The results of experts’ prioritization were weighted using fuzzy SWARA decision making method. According to the findings, the most important components of creative tourism in Mashhad are managerial, legal and economic issues, followed by culturization and education, marketing strategy, promotional activities, communication and interaction, innovation, ideation, branding, municipal services, identity, originality, and modern technology.

The development of rural settlements mostly depends on such someimportant factors likeeffective local management. Moreover, rural development can be achieved through creating organized groups likevillage administrations. Rural management (village administration) plays an important role in executing rural development activities and measuring the performance of rural managers paves the way of improving villagers’ livelihood.This research tried to explorethe village headmen’s performance in rural areas of centraldistrict of Mashhad. The applied study used descriptive-analytical method and a researcher-made questionnaire. Twelve villages of the central district of Mashhad were studied. Using Cochran formula and considering an error of 5%, the size of the sample was determined to be 367 households. The collecteddatawere analyzed by SPSS and GIS software and WASPAS. The results showed that the performance of the village headmen regarding unemployment reduction, employment development, and encouraging investment indicators is not good. Regarding “the effort to increase income” their performance is normal. Generally, their performance regarding economic growth variable of the villages ismoderate. Moreover, the results of WASP model showed that the village headmen of Farmad, Doostabad, and Amir Abad villages performed better than the heads of other villages. The spatial analysis of village headmen’s performance regarding the development of rural economy showed that there is a significant relationship between the performance of village headmen with indicators such as the distance to Mashhad (r= -0.902), population size (r= -0.646), growth rate (r= -0.656), cultivated area (r= 0.584), literate population (r= 0.618) and the number of employees (r= 0.620).

The main purpose of this study was to explore the impact of climate on the changes made in the inselbergs of Safi Abad Plain. The ultimate aim of such a study is controlling the changes and make optimal use of geomorphological forms. The applied research used field study. After identifying 18 inselbergs it was found that Posht Bahram highlands of Safi Abad plain had been formed as a result of tectonic activities between the Devonian and the Miocene. Due the formation of the heights, the primary skeleton of the inselbergs had been created and the changes made by the weather have resulted in the current shapes of the inselbergs of the plain. Some climate elements have caused changes in the surface of the inselbergs of Safi Abad plain, among of which are the precipitation by creating rain and flood karrens, temperature through various types of weathering, and wind through creating honeycomb karrens. Moreover, geological formations of the region have also reacted differently to the climate processes. They have had different impacts on the surface of the inselbergs. The most typical inselbergs have been formed in the massive limestones of north as the geological formations more resist against the effects of climate. The inselbergs formed in the conglomerates of the south are, however, change more as their resistance is lower and their appearance is far from typical inselbergs. Moreover, the plain’s northern inselbergs, due to being located on the slopes receiving less sun, have undergone less changes against climatic factors, and the southern inselbergs of the heights have undergone more changes as they are located on the sunny slope.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the changes in evapotranspiration of autumn irrigated wheat in Iran under climate changes conditions in order to carry out planning adapted to future climatic conditions and proper management of water productivity in the agricultural sector. Using the data of CCSM4 general circulation model and considering the length of growth period and plant growth coefficient of Irrigated wheat, the values of evapotranspiration in the base period 2005-2020 and the two future periods (2021-2060 and 2061-2100) under two scenarios of RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 were estimated, the relevant maps were prepared, and the spatial patterns of the phenomenon were investigated. The results showed that the evapotranspiration of irrigated wheat in Iran will increase by about 6% in the future period compared to the base period. It will be more in the distant future (2061-2100) than the near future (2021-2060) and in the RCP8.5 scenario more than the RCP4.5 scenario. The highest monthly values of evapotranspiration under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios for May are 153 and 162 mm, respectively. Moreover, October and November, which are the first months of the growing season, will have the lowest increase in evapotranspiration in future, at approximately 14 mm. The amount of evapotranspiration of irrigated wheat during the growing period in the country varies from 330 to 971 mm in the base period to 340 to 1025 mm in the distant future under the RCP8.5 scenario. Increased evapotranspiration in the future will challenge many plans to supply water to the wheat crop in the country. Therefore, it is necessary to pay attention to water needs in the coming years, especially in April and May, which is the peak of plant activity and growth and the time of maximum water needs.

Nowadays, holding diverse festivals and events is a significant way of attracting tourists. Events are among the most exciting and fast-growing industries, dealing with leisure, trade, and tourism. Focusing on the variable knowing the brand of tourism festivals, perceived quality, and the image of the brand of JashnvarehGolabgiriKashan (Rosewater-making Festival of Kashan), the study endeavored to explore the impact of the reputation of a brand on the sense of destination place. Kashan has many potentials for attracting tourists as it is close to the major populated cities of Iran. The statistical population of the applied survey was all domestic and foreign tourists visiting the Rosewater-making Festival of Kashan. The participant were selected using purposive sampling. The results of testing the hypotheses showed that the components of the reputation of a brand have positive significant relationship with the perceived quality and the image of the brand of Kashan city.The results showed as well that knowing about the brand of roe-water making festival of Kashan impact significantly and positively the awareness of the event, and that in turn, shows that knowing about a festival may approve the relationship and communication with tourists. If a brand is introduced appropriately, it can make the festival successful and make participants more satisfied. The study showed that the variable “trustability of Rose-water making Festival of Kashan” impacts significantly and positively the awareness of the festival.